Fastener-inserting machine



Sept. 12, I944.

s. L. GOOKIN FASTENER-INSERTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v Filed Jan. 8, 1943 Sept. 12, 1944. s. L. GOOKIN FASTENER-INSERTING MACHINE Filed Jan. a, 1945 2 Sh'ets-Sheet ,2

Patented Sept. 1 2, 1944 FASTENER-INSERTING MACHINE Sylvester L. Gookin, Quincy, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Fleming.- t'on, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application January 8, 1943,, Serial No. 471,668

14 Claims.

The purpose of the presentinvention is to provide improvements. in machines for inserting fasteners and supplying them with Washers. The improvements herein set forth are embodied in a machine equipped to insert three eyelets at once and to supply only two of them withwashers as required for military belts made of thick webbing. A similar machine for the same purpose, but without these improvements, is shown and described in mycopending application Serial No. 442,423, filed: May 11 19.42, in the United States Patent Ofiice.

One of the improvementsprovided by the present invention consists in a novel combination comprising washer-feeding means and workfeeding means so organized and coupled as to derive their operating motions from a. common actuator by which-washersare moved successively into alignment, with eyelet-setting tools in synchronism with feedingv steps imparted to the workv Another improvement, predicated upon the one first S ecified; consists in resilient means by which operating strokes. are normally communicated to the washer-feeding memberin synchronism with operating: strokes positively imparted to the work-feeding member but. with provision for absorbing the motion of the common actuator without damaging the combined mechanisms in the. event of clogging of: washers. In this respect, continued operation: of the work-feeding means, notwithstanding such clogging, is assured to avoid more seriousdamage which would occur if eyelets already inserted were to remain at the setting locality during a subsequent cycle of the eyelet-inserting mechanism.

Still another improvement is embodied in work-guiding means designed to maintain the median line of a belt in the median line of its tools in the act of'completing, a setting opera..-

tion, the direction of the view being from right to left; and.

Fig. 6 is a top-plan view including a portion of the lower plate of the work table and a portion of the washer. feeder.

With. the. exception of the work-feeding means, the, work-guiding means and the washer-feeding means the general organization of the machine herein shown is the same as that shown in my former application, identified above, but it is to be noted thatv the crank for operating the eyeletsetting. plunger (Fig. 1) moves about 36 beyond top center to its stopping position. The reason for this. choice of a stopping positionis to complete the, final work-feeding motion in every run of the machine, and. that result. is obtained by a with respect to the driven. member of a clutch,

.the details of which arenot. shown.

The pulley |;0f,.to be rotated by a belt, is loosely mo.unted on'the crank shaft fl. and its hub. constitutes the driving member of the clutch; The shaft, l'l', journal'ed'in a frame 12, carries. a crank I3, a raceway cam I4 and a cam i5, in addition to the driven member of the clutch. The motion derived. from the cam IBi feeds. the work and operates a washer-feeding member (Figs. 3 and 6).

A. horn l6, rigidly secured to the frame i2, supports a tool block H in which three anvilsv or setting tools are fixed in a row (Fig. 5), the middle anvil IH' being adjusted heightwise to upset an. eyelet without a washer, and" the two outer anvilshlil being. adjusted slightly lower to upset eyelets against washers. 20. Each anvil is provided with a pointed central projection 21. for piercing the work 22 and thereafter gulding the barrel of an eyelet 23' through the work. Alsthough Fig. 5 represents. the elements in section the customary cross-hatching is omitted from the workpieceto avoid obscuring the eyelets and washers and to leave" blank spaces for reference numerals.

Three eyelet-setting tools 25 arev aflixedfl to a toolblock 26 and each is provided with a springpressed' spindle 2T forpickingan eyelet from a raceway. The block 26' is carried by a vertically movable plunger 28 guided by the frame ['2 and operated by the crank [3 to which it is connected by alink 2'9.

Eyelets are presented to the spindles. 21 by a three-track raceway 311 affixed? toa. carrier 31'. The latter is connected; to. the frame t2. by arod 32. which serves as a fulcrum. The delivery end of the raceway is. pulled intoalignment with'the spindles by a tension spring 33 and is retracted V by, the cam M which engages a roll 34 mounted on the carrier 3|. The eyelets at the delivery ends. of the tracks are controlled as usual by spring-pressed detents.

The machine is provided with a work table which normally supports the work piece 22 slightly above the points 2| but yields downwardly when the work piece is depressed. The table comprises an upper plate 35 and a lower plate 36 aflixed one to the other in face-to-face contact. The two-ply construction is merely to facilitate thework of making the table. A shank 3'! formed on or welded to the plate 36. projects downwardly therefrom and is arranged to slide up and down in a guiding bracket 38 aflixed to the horn l6. Compression springs normally raise the shank against a stop 39. One of these springs 40 is shown in Fig. 1.

Apresser foot 4| is provided to force the work piece down on the points 2| in advance of the ingoing eyelets. It is formed on a hollow member carried by. a pair of parallelrods 42 that slide in-jbearings formed in the plunger 28. The upper ends of the rods are connected by a head- Piece 43 to which vertical strokes are imparted bya link 44 and a bell crank 45; The fulcrum 46 of the bell" crank is carried by the plunger andone arm is connected to the frame I! by a link 41. By means of these connections the presser foot derives up and down motions from the plunger 28, but its strokes are shorter than those of the'plunger and its down strokes are derived from-the cam and are positive.

terminated earlier than those of the plunger.

Mo'reoveiythe presser foot is provided with three holes (Fig. 5) through which the setting tools may pass.

When the crank |3 iswithin the range of an are extending about each side of top center of its path of travel the work table remains at its highest level determined by the stop 39, and while the crank is traversing this are the corresponding movement of the presser foot leaves the Work piece free to be fed along the table. 3

'One of the features of the present invention is embodied in automatic work-feeding mechanism I arranged to impart feeding steps during the. intervals above specified.

A pair of toothed feed'rolls 50 connected by a hub are affixed to a shaft 5| journaled in a bearing 52 (Fig. 3). The bearing is carried by the work table in which holes are provided to enable the teeth of the feed rolls to engage the lower surface of a work piece. A pair of presser rolls 53 are arranged to engage the upper surface of the work piece and press the latter against the feed rolls. fThe presser rolls are freely rotatable on a stem 54 carried by a rocker arm 55. Another arm 56 is rigidly connected'to the arm by a rock shaft 5lland the latter is journaled in a bearing 58 carried bythe table. A compression spring 59 engaging the arm 56 normally maintains pressure of the. rolls 53 against the shaft N '(Fig. 2) and a spring 61 by which a roll 68 on the arm 64 is maintained against the cam. The rod 32 is the fulcrum on which the arm swings. The operating strokes of the pawl are They occur only While the work table is stationary and at its highest level. Each operating stroke is long enough to feed the work the required distance, and the teeth of the ratchet wheel are spaced accordingly.

To prevent over-travel and reverse turning of the feed rolls a friction brake is arranged to engage the hub by which these rolls are connected. As shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, one brake shoe 69 is provided with an anchoring stem 10 and the latter is insertedinto a hole in the member-31 and fastened by a set-screw. An-

other brake' shoe II is loosely connected to the first and the braking force is applied by a' compression spring 12. r

The washers 20 are supplied by a hopper l3 ailixed to the frame |2' (Fig.1). They gravitate through a pair of tubes 14 the upper ends of which have telescopic engagement with the hopper and the lower ends of which are flush with the lower surface of the upper plate 35 of the work table. To provide for'this flush relation holes are formed in the plate 35 to receive the tubes, and the latter are secured to the table by the bearing member 58 in which sockets are formed to receive them. 7

As the lowest washer in each column drops from its tube 14 it enters one of two straight grooves milled in the upper surface of the: lower plate 36 to lprovide tracks 15 for guiding the washers edgewise. The depth of these grooves is only slightly greater than the thickness of a washer to afford clearance. The grooves guide the washers to the pointed projections 2| of the two anvils l9 at a level slightly above the points. As the washers move into alignment with the anvils they enter tubular socket members (Fig. 5) pressed tightly. intoholes in the table and provided with internal shoulders 16 by which .the washers are temporarily supported. The smallest internal diameter of these socket members is greater than the diameter of the anvils washers are fed by a member Tl consisting of a work, but when no work is present the arm 55 will engage a stop 60 to prevent contact of the rolls 53 with the teeth of the feed rolls.

The rolls'feed the work from left to right and are located at the leaving side of the eyeletsetting locality. Moreover, the nip of the rolls is spaced from that locality by a distance equal to the prescribed. distance from the leading end of a military belt to the first row of eyelets to be inserted therein. Accordingly, the rolls 53 first serve to locate the leading end of a belt at'the desired position for the first operating cycle.

blade of sheet steel of about the same thickness as the washers. The feeder l! is carried by a rock shaft 18 to which'an operating arm 19 is aflixed, and the rock shaft is journaled' in a bearing carried by the Work table. To-and-fro motions imparted to the arm 19 cause two tongues of the feederto sweep across the lower ends of the washer tubes 14. The tongues support the stacks of'wa'shers in the tubes While advancing the trains of washers lodged 'in' the guiding grooves above described. When the -feeder is fully retracted its tongues clear the stacked washers, whereupon twojof them .drop into the guiding grooves.

The washer feederderives its to-andfro motions from the pawl carrier"62to which the arm -of the plunger 28 continues.

19 is connected by yieldable means designed to avoid damaging the machine in the event of clogstem 82 telescopically related thereto but having a screw thread engaged only b an internally threaded collar 93, tension springs 84 connecting the collar and the socket member, a ball-andsocket connection 85 by which the pawl carrier and the member 9| are .connected, and a balland-socket connection 86 by which the arm 19 and the stem 82 are connected. The springs 84 enable the socket member 8| to be pulled away from the collar 83 by the operating strokes of the pawl carrier whenever the normal operation of the feeder I1 is prevented by an obstruction.

When the washer feeder is operating normally, that is, when it is not obstructed, its feeding strokes coincide with the work-feeding strokes of the pawl 63. On the other hand, normal operation of the work-feeding means will continue despite obstruction of the washer feeder and avoid "superposing eyelets on those already clenched in a work piece.-

Once a belt 22 has been placed on the work table with its right hand end in the nip of the rolls 59 and 53, the operator has only to trip the clutch and keep it in operation through the de- 2| while the belt is being forced down by the presser foot.

When the belt has been depressed to the roots of the' projections 2| the down stroke of the presser foot is fully spent, but the down stroke Now, the ingoing eyelets traverse the projections 2|, pass through holes 81 in the presser foot, through the belt 22, and two of them enter the washers now lodged on the anvils l9. When the down stroke of the plunger 28 is completed the three eyelets are clenched and now the up stroke of the plunger begins.

The presser foot rises during the latter stages of the up stroke of the plunger, thereby permitof times without interruption in one run of the machine according to how long the operator holds the clutch in operation. At the conclusion of the final cycle the parts will be left in the positions represented in Figs, 1 and 2.

To facilitate inserting and removing a belt, which would normally extend between the rolls 50 and 53 at the conclusion of a run, a treadle rod 88 is provided to lift the rolls 53. This rod extends through a stationary guide 89 (Fig. 1) and through a hole in the arm 56. A nut 9|] carried by the rod actuates the arm 56 only when the rod is depressed in opposition to a spring 9|.

A collar 92 afiixed to the rod is normally upheld against the guide 89. In normal running of the .machine the arm 55 will travel up and down with- -manufacturers and some are HEII'IOWGI than others. The belt makers are consequently confronted with the problem oflocating the eyelets and washers symmetrically between the selvages despite the differences in width above mentioned.

In Fig. 3 line XX represents the median line of the path to be traversed by a belt. Two spaced work-guiding bars 93 are provided with straight con-fronting faces in parallel-relation and equally distant from the lin X--X.. These faces are arranged to be engaged b the longitudinal edges of a belt. The bars are connected by a pair of parallel levers 94 and connecting pivots 95. Midway between the latter the levers are connected to the bottom of the work table by pivots 96 the centers of which are on the median line X--X. These levers constrain the bars 93 to move equally toward and from ach other, but the bars are normally constrained toward each other by a light tension spring 91 attached to the levers. The power of the spring is not so great as to distort a belt or affect its feeding steps.

, width of the belt by moving the handle Hi0.

So long as the space between the bars is no greater than the width of a belt the bars will Patent of the United States is:

1. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic means to a power-operated fastener-inserting tool, the combination therewith of a work-supporting table having a washer-track, a member arranged to feed Washers along said track and into alignment with said tool, a work-feeding member, and a power-actuated member by which said work-feeding member and said washer-feeding member are operated in synchronism.

2. A machine comprising the combination specified in claim 1 in which a resilient operating connection is interposed between the washerfeeding member and the power-actuated member.

3. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic means to a power-operated fastener-inserting tool, the combination therewith of a movable work-supporting table, power-operated means for moving the table up and down in timed relation to the strokes of said tool, a work-feeding member carried up and down by the table, and poweroperated mechanism arranged to operate said work-feeding member.

4. An eyeleting machine comprising a poweroperated plunger provided with an eyelet-inserting tool, a depressible work-table, work-feeding means carried by the latter, resilient meansfor normally raising the work-table, aipower-operated presser foot arranged to depress and release the work, and power-operated means bywhich said work-feeding means is operated ,while the work is released by the presser-foot.

5. An eyeleting machine as specified in claim 4 comprising also washer-feeding means carried by the work-table, and means by which the washer-feeding means and the work-feeding means are coupled to be operated by one power-operated means common to both.

6. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic means to a power-operated fastener-inserting tool, the combination therewith of a movable work-supporting table having a washer-track, a member carried up and down by the table to feed washers along said track and into alignment-with said tool, a work-feeding member carried up and down by said table,'means by which said feeding members are coupled to be operated in synchronism, and a power-actuated member arranged to operate said feeding members. I

7. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic means to a power-operated fastener-inserting tool, the combination therewith of a movable work-supporting table, power-operated means for moving the table up and down in timed relation to the strokes of said tool, a work-feeding roll carried up and down by the table, and poweroperated means arranged to drive the feeding roll step by step. 7

8. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic 'rneans to a power-operated fastener-inserting .tool, the combination therewith of a movable work-supporting table having a washer-track, power-operated means for moving the table up and down in timed relation to the strokes of said tool, a feed-roll carried up and down by the table, an operating member also carriedup and down by the table for imparting feeding steps to said roll, means for reciprocating said member, and

means operable by said operating member for feeding washers along said track andinto alignment with said tool.

9, In a fastener-inserting machine of the'type in which fasteners are supplied by automatic means to a power-operated fastener-inserting tool, the combination therewith of a movable work-supporting table, power-operated means by which said table is moved up and down in timed relation to the strokes of said tool and with an interval of dwell at its highest level, a ,work-feeding member carried up and down by the table,

and power-operated mechanismby which said I, member is operated only during such interval of dwell.

10. An eyeleting machine of the type in which a strip of work is pressed down upon one .or'more' pointed punches by a power-operated presser before the eyelets are inserted and thereafter raised above the punches by a yieldable support as the presser rises, a stop for arresting the upward travel of the support before that of the presser is completed, means carried by the work-support for feeding the strip, and power-driven means arranged to operate the feeding means while the work-support is against said stop.

11. An eyeleting machine of the type in which a strip of work is pressed down upon one or more pointed punches by a power-operated presserlbefore the eyelets are inserted and thereafter raised above the punches-by a yieldable support as the presser rises, a stop for arresting the upward travel of the support before that of the presser is completed, a pair of rolls carried by the worksupport to travel up and down therewith and arranged to grip the strip of work, and power-driven means arranged to impart a step of feeding movement to one of said rolls. while the presser and the work-support are separated by said stop.

12. An eyeleting machine of the type in which a power-operated eyelet-inserting tool cooperates with an upsetting toolhaving a punch, the com- 13. In a fastener-inserting machine of the type in which setting tools are arranged to insert fasteners in the longitudinal margins of a belt fed lengthwise along a table, the combination therewith of a pair of separable work-guiding bars having straight confronting surfaces arranged to abut the longitudinal edges of the belt, parallel V levers by which said bars are connected andby which said surfaces are maintained in parallelism, and resilient means by which said bars are constrained toward each other but permitted to yield to widthwise demands of the belt.

14. An eyeleting machine comprising a worksupporting table, a pair of separable bars mounted thereon and having straight confrontingwork guiding surfaces arranged to abut the longitudinal edges of a work strip, yieldable means by which said bars are constrained to parallel and equal movement toward and from each other, stripfeeding means spaced from said bars lengthwise of a work-strip, power-operated means by which said feeding means is operated periodically to pull the work-strip from said bars, power-operated means arranged to insert eyelets into the workstrip between said feeding means and said bars,

and eyelet-clenching means arranged to cooperate with said inserting means.

SYLVESTER L. GOOKIN. 

